Trivia
Mae Questel (Trivia): *Questel had a withered arm; in her on-camera film appearances, she was usually photographed with elbows bent and both hands at her waist or holding an object in the crook of her elbow to make it less obvious that one arm was shorter and smaller than the other. *Was originally dubbed the world's best Helen Kane impersonator in the newspapers. Only, Helen didn't think so, she thought Claire Bart was the best. *In 1930, Helen Kane complained about Mae Questel using the title "Prize Winning Boop-Boop-a-Dooper of the Tri-Boro Helen Kane Impersonation Contest." She notified the RKO circuit that she was not in favor of Mae exploiting her name. Kane's request was heeded and Mae was then dubbed simply as "An RKO Find". *Mae substituted for Helen Kane several times which as stated above lead Kane to make a complaint, Mae continued her vaudeville act up until she got the role of Betty Boop. *When Helen heard Mae Questel on radio as Betty Boop, it upset her. To contradict Helen's claim, she knew that Margie Hines another impersonator who had entered three "Helen Kane Impersonation Contests" was also the voice of Betty Boop, and didn't seem to mind. Only when Helen found out that Mae "Betty Boop" Questel was the official voice for the character, it seemed to bother her. *Mae portrayed Betty Boop in person in the 1931 Paramount live-action short Musical Justice. Originally Margie Hines was intended to do the role but for some unknown reason was replaced by Questel. *In the 1934 Paramount live-action short Hollywood on Parade No. A-8. Questel and Helen Kane are often mistaken for portraying Betty. The actress in said feature was actually Bonnie Poe. *Mae "Betty Boop" Questel was also the lead singer in the girl group entitled 4 Betty Boop Girls, the "Boop-Oop-a-Doops" in the group were Bonnie Poe, Margie Hines and Little Ann Little. After performing, Questel would proceed to do impersonations of Mae West and ZaSu Pitts. *Questel's most favorite roles were Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. *It is often believed that Questel provided the voice for [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse Minnie Mouse,] Casper the Friendly Ghost and[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicStrip/LittleLulu ' Little Lulu'.] Questel was able to impersonate a young boy voice but did not do the voice for Casper, she did background voices in Casper the Friendly Ghost and Little Lulu. The voice of Casper and Little Lulu was provided by actress Cecil Roy, a radio actress who was well known in radio bradcasting in the 30s and 40s as The Girl of a Thousand Voices, including several uncredited young male actors who also did the role of Casper. The voice of Walt Disney's Minnie Mouse was provided by Marcellite Garner an actress who has been partly credited with defining Minnie Mouse's personality. *Even though Questel didn't provide the voice for Casper, she would sometimes say in interviews that she did. Mae confirmed in a 1978 interview that she was not the voice for Casper. According to Max Fleischer's granddaughter [http://www.fleischerstudios.com/blog/category/ginny-mahoney Ginny Mahoney,] in 1970 in New York while she was a young woman her eldest daughter Jeni who was six at the time was a massive fan of Casper the Friendly Ghost. Mae asked that they put Jeni on the phone and she intoned Casper over the phone, including Betty Boop, Olive Oyl, Popeye and many other characters. *In 1947 Paramount decided not to renew the licence on the Little Lulu character created by Marjorie Henderson Buell (aka Marge) and decided to make a knock-off character dubbed [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/LittleAudrey Little Audrey.] Her creation was spurred when the studio grew tired of paying royalties to produce Little Lulu cartoons and decided to create a similar character they could used in the shorts for no cost. A lead animator was said to have based Audrey's design on his daughter. The original voice of Little Lulu had been performed by Cecil Roy, instead Little Audrey was voiced by Mae Questel. *Questel was featured in the 1941 animated feature Mr Bug Goes to Town. She went down to Florida to to do background voices in the animated feature. She also provided the voice for [http://thefleischerstudios.wikia.com/wiki/Buzz Buzz the Beescout. ] *When Hanna-Barbera began making the All New Popeye cartoons for television in 1978, Questel auditioned for the role of Olive Oyl but lost out to [http://popeye.wikia.com/wiki/Marilyn_Schreffler Marilyn Schreffler.] *The 1980 Betty Boop feature replaced Questel in the 1980 animated film short Hurray for Betty Boop as they felt her voice was not appropriate and the role was given to [http://bettyboop.wikia.com/wiki/Victoria_D%27Orazi Victoria Marie D'Orazi.] In 1985 Questel was contacted first for The Romance of Betty Boop but her voice had dropped, so the role was given to an actress by the name of [http://bettyboop.wikia.com/wiki/Desir%C3%A9e_Goyette Desirée Goyette.] Three years later Questel revived her role as Betty Boop in the 1988 film feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Questel would have also provided the voice for Olive Oyl but Disney couldn't obtain the rights to the Popeye characters. *In 1989 Questel was contacted again for the animated feature Betty Boop's Hollwood Mystery but she was busy filming Woody Allen's segment of New York Stories,'' so the role was given to 'Melissa Fahn' an actress who originally auditioned for the role of 'Ariel the Little Mermaid' but had lost out to [https://twitter.com/thejodibenson '''Jodie Benson'.] Cyndi Lauper and Bernadette Peters 'were also considered for the role, but were not committed to the role. Even though Mae's voice had dropped and she had lost out her role of Olive Oyl to Marilyn Schreffler (who had died in 1988) for the Hanna-Barbera ''Popeye the Sailorman series, Mae confirmed in a 1986 interview that she still had a contract with King Features to voice Olive Oyl, and had previously voiced Olive three years ago in 1983. *June Foray' is often dubbed the first lady of voice acting, but it was actually Mae Questel who was the first lady in voice-over. June Foray stated in an interview that Questel paved the way for her and many other female voice-over artists. *Questel recorded her vocals for Betty in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' but Disney had actress 'Mary Healey' record alternative dialogue for the character. According to information given, Questel's recordings were nearly not chosen, but somehow made it into the finalized film. Actress Mary Healey who doubled for Questel had thought that her lines had made it into the final film. When STARLOG credited Questel for the role, Healey contacted them and told them that she had done the role and not Questel. The finalized production of WFRR, features Questel's vocal recordings not Healey's, only Questel's recordings are edited and pitched up, as her voice had since dropped, which was the exact same problem she had when she'd auditioned for ''The Romance of Betty Boop. Category:Mae Questel Category:Trivia